


The Evidence of Her Senses

by wordplay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-16
Updated: 2005-10-16
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:12:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordplay/pseuds/wordplay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione comes to terms with dating <i>another</i> Weasley boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Evidence of Her Senses

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my Pilgrimverse, all previous parts of which are listed [here](http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=tea_and_toast&keyword=Percy/Hermione+Christmas+drabbles&filter=all). Specifically, there's an event in the fourth section here that directly recalls Percy and Hermione's [first jam-flavored kiss](http://www.livejournal.com/users/tea_and_toast/161325.html). This is the universe I'm using for [](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfic100/profile)[**fanfic100**](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfic100/) as well, and this series of vignettes and double drabbles are responses to the [prompts](http://wordplay.livejournal.com/291776.html): (36) Smell, (37) Sound, (38) Touch, (39) Taste, and (40) Sight.

_**Percy/Hermione - "The Evidence of Her Senses"**_  
Title: The Evidence of Her Senses  
Author: [](http://wordplay.livejournal.com/profile)[**wordplay**](http://wordplay.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Hermione comes to terms with dating _another_ Weasley boy.  
Disclaimer: It's not mine, really. All characters and important notions owned by JKR and her people.  
Word Count: Just over 1000  
Notes: This is part of my Pilgrimverse, all previous parts of which are listed [here](http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=tea_and_toast&keyword=Percy/Hermione+Christmas+drabbles&filter=all). Specifically, there's an event in the fourth section here that directly recalls Percy and Hermione's [first jam-flavored kiss](http://www.livejournal.com/users/tea_and_toast/161325.html). This is the universe I'm using for [](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfic100/profile)[**fanfic100**](http://community.livejournal.com/fanfic100/) as well, and this series of vignettes and double drabbles are responses to the [prompts](http://wordplay.livejournal.com/291776.html): (36) Smell, (37) Sound, (38) Touch, (39) Taste, and (40) Sight.

Written in stolen seconds over the last couple of months. Many thanks to [](http://dezzikitty.livejournal.com/profile)[**dezzikitty**](http://dezzikitty.livejournal.com/) for the fastest beta _ever_. ♥

  
Smell

The first time Percy ever held her, Hermione thought that he smelled a little bit like Ron and found that a comfort. Ron had been so many things to her – her best friend, her most constant sparring partner, her first kiss – and to be able to smell him again and find it soothing rather than distressing she interpreted as a sign of her maturity. He had married and she had moved on, or she had moved on and then he had married. It didn’t really matter how it happened; they had repaired their friendship and she was glad of that, and so it was just fine that he was marrying a woman she’d shared a room with for seven years.

The third time she’d had lunch with Percy, he’d come straight from an overnight visit with his parents and she realized that it wasn’t so much that he smelled like Ron, but that he smelled like the Burrow – like must and freshly turned earth and the rosemary and mint sachet that Molly used in all of her cleaning. She didn’t understand until much later why she found that a relief.

And then the first time they made love, she pressed her head beneath his arm and against his thigh and was so glad that she’d never been this intimate with his brother.

Hearing

Hermione has always known to pay attention to details, although she’s not always succeeded. She’s well-aware that when she was younger she’d enjoyed the sound of her own voice a little too much to be a really good listener, but as she’s matured she’s tried very hard to shut up and just _listen_.

So when she and Percy joined his family for a New Year’s celebration the evening after the first night they’d slept together, she caught the anxiety in Molly’s voice as she congratulated them on their new relationship. She overheard Fred make a vulgar crack, wondering if he would be next on her tour of the Weasley men, and she was delighted to hear Ron’s angry response.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know that eyebrows would be raised, and it wasn’t that she didn’t know that Ron was still on her side. After all, her friendship with Ron was still as awkward as it was because there had always been so many assumptions about what she and Ron would be to each other. She just hadn’t known how much she would need to _hear_ him still taking care of her.

Sight

She watched Ron and Lavender together; she has since they married, actually, and once she was able to get past her own anxiety, she liked what she saw. Tonight, getting ready for dinner, she watched Lavender’s small hands support Ron’s elbow as he eased himself into a chair, and then watched his much larger ones grab at her arse after he was settled. Lavender slapped his arm and Hermione grinned to see the flirty smile she shot at him before flouncing away. He called her Lav-Lav and she thumped him on the head.

Lavender’s gift with Ron, what she could have never done for him, is that she is able to help him without infantilizing or shaming him, and she doesn’t even recognize that she’s doing it. And Ron is able to accept Lavender’s help with his pride intact. Watching them, seeing how they were together and how they _worked_ , she realized again that her experience with Ron prepared her for her relationship with Percy – she learned so much about the differences between loving, falling in love, and living with love during her time with him. And no matter how much Fred’s comments stung, it’s never been about making her way through the Weasleys until she found the right one. It’s been about learning as you go along, and learning from everything you see.

Taste

Hermione’s never been a particularly sensual woman and she’s never really enjoyed food. Years of living with dentists have left her with a bone deep wariness of sugar, and the food at Hogwarts was always a bit heavy and hearty for her tastes.

But food is a big part of life with the Weasley family; Molly’s meals are the glue that hold them together and set the rhythm of their days. The first time Hermione saw the long table in the kitchen was the first moment she realized how different Ron’s life was from her own; she and her parents had been taking breakfast at a small round table tucked into a corner all her life, the fourth chair that makes up the set almost always vacant.

So when Hermione moved to help Molly in the kitchen it wasn’t something she did easily. It wasn’t that she didn’t cook, it’s just that she wasn’t sure she spoke Molly’s language, wasn’t sure she knew enough about food and the way taste memory works to turn it into love.

But then she was set to assembling a trifle, and while she was scooping and spreading Molly’s strawberry jam over the trifle sponges, she paused to lick a little of that very familiar sweet stickiness off of her finger. Molly smiled at her, and Hermione realized that she already knew what love tasted like.

Touch

That night, after dinner and after midnight and after everyone was meant to be abed, Percy came to her. Her sheets hadn’t even warmed properly when he joined her, spooning up behind her and curving his body around her. She grinned into her pillow as his arm slid around her waist and pulled him tight against her and she turned her head just a little to smile at him. He murmured something about not being able to stay long, and she shivered as his breath feathered over her face and made her hair tickle. She planted a hasty kiss on the side of his face and turned back, snuggling more firmly back against his hips and tangling her legs with his. He pushed her tank top up and started rubbing small circles on her stomach and hips while he nuzzled at the back of neck, hot and slow, and as she drifted off to sleep, she realized that life was easier when she just trusted the evidence of her senses.


End file.
